A Crystal Labyrinth
by Forever Won't Last
Summary: Some one new is in the labyrinth. Some one with a secret. Some one who will change everything. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE BRILLIANT JIM HENSON!
1. Epilouge

Epilogue

Hoggle sat staring into the pond in front of him. Sir Didymus and Ludo had gone back to the Bog. All three were miserable. Three years she has been gone. Still every corner of the ever moving labyrinth Hoggle could still see her hair flying behind her as she ran for the castle. Every time he ran to her. She wasn't there. Whenever the trio went out Hoggle would always feel like they were missing some one. He missed her. She wasn't like everyone else who ever entered the labyrinth. She cared. Not just for Hoggle. Not for Sir Didymus or Ludo. She cared for whoever she came across. She tried not to hurt anyone. Even the Goblin King got the same courtesy.

Three years. And the legend of Sarah became a myth. Only Hoggle, Sir Didymus, Ludo and the Goblin King knew of her. She became a story to tell the young. A story to tell at war. A story no one believed. A story that will one day end. Hoggle thought to himself and scratched under his little hat. Everyone great becomes myths. The truth turns to lies. The words become riddled. The end becomes the beginning. But, Hoggle thought, I know it's true. Didymus knows it's true. Ludo knows it's true. And Jareth lied to say he didn't.

Sarah had said the words. The only words that can reject the King. And she went home. And she called everyone to her home. They partied. They all went home. She called everyday. She called once a week. She called once a month. She stopped calling. They never knew why. It had been five months. No Sarah. Not anymore. Jareth knew of the calls and never stopped them. He sometimes came and watched through the window. He was never the same when she left. He was outsmarted. By a mortal. He stopped coming to Sarah a year ago. He had not left the castle for eleven months. He left wished away children with their families. No matter how much the Goblins begged, he never sang, or joked, or stole, or left his castle. She had affected their world. And she never returned to see it.

Hoggle finally took a step away from the pond and sighed again. He looked around himself to see the day was over and he had to get home before it got too dark. He shuffled to his hut and dreamed. The same dream he has every night. Of Sarah. Of every smile she gave him, every word she said. No one missed Sarah as much as Hoggle. Or that's what Hoggle thought.


	2. Chapter one

Chapter One:

Hoggle walked out of his little hut just like everyday. He wore his usual outfit. He did his usual morning routine. He took the usual route to the pond. He sat in his usual spot watching the labyrinth. He had his usual breakfast. But he heard an unusual sound. A clicking every two seconds. The noise was getting closer. He heard a scuffling which sounded like someone falling. It was followed by a groan and mumbling. Hoggle realised it was a woman. Had Sarah returned? He jumped up and ran as quick as his short legs could toward the noise.

"I'm coming Sarah!" He shouted just as he had all those years ago. He reached the tree where Jareth left the wishers. But he stopped in his tracks.

In front of him was not a little girl who he had helped before. Instead before him stood a woman. She wore tight jeans and red top that tied behind her neck and black ankle boots with ribbons on the side. She had long straight black hair and a fringe that nearly fell into her eyes. It had only been three years. This women before Hoggle was not Sarah. And he accepted that. He didn't shed a tear about the fact instead he held out his hand to the woman struggling up the hill.

"Thank you!" She gasped as she reached the top of the hill. As she stood next to him Hoggle looked at her more closely.

She had pale skin just like Sarah and Jareth. She was young not as young as Sarah. She was obviously in her early twenties. In mortal years of course. She was thin. Not too thin so that you could see her bones but thin. Even without her shoes she would be tall. She was about two inches smaller then the King. Her eyes were blue as they stared at him. Her lips were smiling showing white teeth. She looked like magic. She was too perfect. But Hoggle didn't wonder about that. He wondered how she got here.

"My name is Crystal." She smiled putting her hand out in front of her.

"I's Hoggle." He grumbled shaking her hand. He stepped back and looked at Crystal. His bushy eyes frowned. He had made a mistake with her appearance. Her eyes were grey.

"Pleasure, to make your acquaintance. Hoggle." She gave a small curtsy a smile playing on her lips. Hoggle took another step back in surprise. No one ever got his name right on first meetings.

Crystal looked toward the labyrinth with what looked like hope in her grey eyes. She took a few steps toward it which Hoggle silently followed. She had stopped next to the burnt tree. Crystal closed her eyes and held onto the bark with one hand. She had a smile on her face as if she was relieved. Hoggle then realized why she would be at the labyrinth.

"As the Labyrinth taken yer kid?" He asked bluntly.

"Sort of, yes, my brother." She looked down at Hoggle.

"How long yer got?" Hoggle started to move toward the Labyrinth. Since Sarah, and before the King stopped stealing, Hoggle tried to help the wishers. He often received threats from the king but he always helped them. None reached the centre though. Only Sarah. The wishers always went the opposite way to Hoggle thinking he was with the King. Or they give up.

"As long as it takes to get him back." She muttered. Only then did Hoggle realize that this was the first child he had taken in eleven months. He smiled lightly to himself. He hated Jareth but he was their king and things didn't run right without him.

"Aint Jareth given yer a time limit?" Hoggle asked stopping by the pond to collect his long forgotten breakfast.

"Oh don't mind me finish eating first. As long as we get there before he realises I'm close." She smiled at him and sat next to the pond brushing her long dark hair behind her ear.

"He'll know exactly were yer are." Hoggle's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Was she really this clueless about the labyrinth? Her grey eyes stared into his and he stared right back transfixed.

"No, he won't know where I am. Trust me." She stated in voice clearly saying the conversation was over. Hoggle shoved all of his beetles' sandwich into his small mouth and chewed slowly. Crystal sniffed lightly at the food in disgust. After a few moments of silence a voice broke the tension.

"So do you live here?" Crystal asked waving her hand at the labyrinth.

"No. I's live just out of the gate but I'ms a citizen there." Hoggle slurped his hot worm slime and stood up.

"Come on. If we're gonna beat that rat we better be's off." Crystal pushed herself of the ground and dusted off her jeans.

"How do I get into the labyrinth?" She repeated the same words Sarah said all hose years ago. With a chuckle he responded the same as he did back then, pointing straight ahead.

"You gets in there." The door creaked open and the couple walked in. The door slammed shut behind them making the young girl jump.

"Ah, don't worry about a door. Bigger things to be scared of in 'ere. Now, do you go left or right?"

"We go right!" Crystal beamed with a smile that was contagious.

"Right's it is." Hoggle started to walk down the path on the right

"It just goes on forever!" Crystal laughed.

Hoggle frowned. The young girl was so much like Sarah it was almost painful. Hoggle knew Jareth must have stolen the child for the fact she was so much like her. Both wished away their brothers. Both had the determination to get through the labyrinth. Both had a flare to them. Except Crystal saw everything as a joke. While Sarah hated it all. Sarah knew what would happen and wanted to stop it. Crystal acted like it was a walk in the park and she could turn back at any minute. Sarah was unique. Crystal was weird!

The pair walked until they were next to where the blue worms lived. Crystal was skipping along the path her long black hair dancing behind her. Hoggle was running behind her his jewels banging loudly against each other. Crystal stopped out of breath and leaned against the wall. Her smile had still not died down.

"'Allo." A voice squeaked next to her.

"Hello sir. Don't mind me asking but do you know the way through the labyrinth." Crystal asked cocking her head to the side.

"No. I'm just a worm." The worm in question was the same that Sarah saw before. He was blue with hairy legs and three tuffs of hair on top of his head. He wore a snug red scarf around his neck and a smile only the mentally handicapped could have.

"Oh. Okay."

"Come inside. Meet the missus. Have some tea." The worm insisted.

"No thank you. I need to find an opening to the labyrinth."

"It's full of openings. There's one right in front of you." The worm chuckled nodding to the opposite wall. Crystal frowned and walked toward it. She looked back at the worm. His smile hadn't moved and he nodded again. Crystal walked through the wall into another pathway.

"Thank you!" Crystal skipped back and lightly pecked the worm's hair. She then grabbed Hoggle's hand and pulled him through the hole into the next pathway.

"By the way. My name is Crystal, this is my friend Hoggle." Crystal stated over her shoulder.

"Well. I'm Jack. I better be getting back to the missus. Have some tea." The worm started to wiggle along the ledge. Crystal, with Hoggle in tow, turned to go left.

"Hey! Hang on! Don't go that way!" Jack shouted.

"Thank you Jack but I want to go left." Crystal smiled at the worm one last time and with a wave ran down the path.


	3. Chapter two

Chapter two:

Crystal and Hoggle walked down the labyrinth's pathway. It had started off grey and miserable, unloved and overgrown weeds sprouting up everywhere. But as they walked it changed. The pathway got bigger and the two could walk side by side with a bit of space between them. The walls had turned from grey to a dark green. And the overgrown weeds had vanished leaving the old wildflower in bloom on the edges of the path. The floor which had cracks in and broken objects lying around was a flat surface the same colour as the walls with nothing blocking the path in front of them. The only things that hadn't changed were the two people on a quest and the permanently red sky.

The travellers had not said a word to each other for a long time. But there was not a silence upon them. Instead the young girl sang softly to herself.

'Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,  
Lavender's green  
When you are King, dilly dilly,  
I shall be Queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,  
Who told you so?  
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,  
That told me so

Call up your friends, dilly, dilly  
Set them to work  
Some to the plough, dilly dilly,  
Some to the fork

Some to the hay, dilly dilly,  
Some to thresh corn  
Whilst you and I, dilly dilly,  
Keep ourselves warm

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,  
Lavender's green  
When you are King, dilly dilly,  
I shall be Queen

Who told you so, dilly dilly,  
Who told you so?  
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,  
That told me so.''

As she sung the last words she sighed and stopped. Had Hoggle not been watching her from the corner of his eye he wouldn't have known.

"What's tha matter?"

"Hoggle, why didn't you tell me about all the passage ways?" Crystal asked. And for the first time she looked upset. Hoggle looked down ashamed.

"I…ah…I was just thinking about sumin'. Don't worry your pretty head about it I'm alert now. I can see the next passage just ahead of us." Hoggle nervously jogged to the opening and stepped through. After a few hesitant glances Crystal followed and as she passed through the wall her smile was back. Not as bright as before but it was a smile.

"Maybe one day you can tell me who she was."

"Who, who was?" Hoggle asked dumbfounded. Crystal ignored him and looked left then right a slight pout on her lips.

"Which way would Alice go?"

"Who's Alice? And who's this _she_ you jus talked about?"

"Why! Alice in wonderland of course." Crystal beamed her teeth-showing, contagious, gorgeous smile. Which Hoggle was only too pleased to return.

"And this _she _I speak of is the one who's got ya trippin'" Crystal looked at her companion with kind blue eyes.

"Hoggle not trippin for anyone!"

"Right." Crystal nodded.

"I'm not!"

"Okay."

"If I say I'm not trippin for some one, I aint!" Hoggle ranted.

"Right!" Crystal exaggerated the word so Hoggle could hear above his voice.

"But I aint!" Hoggle shouted

"Hoggle. When I said right the first time I meant we are taking the right pathway. I was in no way insinuating anything." Crystal laughed loudly sounding carefree and happy.

"Oh" Hoggle mumbled before walking down the path on his right.

"What's her name?" Crystal asked quietly

"Sarah." Hoggle breathed. Subconsciously, he touched the plastic bracelet which resided on his right wrist.

"Sarah Williams." Crystal looked down at the dwarf walking beside her. Quicker than he could register she was hugging him.

"Gerrof!" He whined.

"Don't be so hard!" Crystal laughed.

"What's that?" Crystal suddenly straightened up and started to run down the path.

"Crystal! Wait up! I'm only lil." The dwarf recovered from the act of compassion and ran as fast as he could after the young woman.

Crystal stopped at an opening in amazement. Hoggle not being able to control his feet and ran into her causing them both to fall down. This did not stop Crystal from looking around. As she lied crumbled on the grass she took in the beauty around her. Hoggle too stayed down looking around his surroundings.

They were in a field. Where the saying 'the grass is always greener on the other side' could never be true. Since the grass was lush and soft. Flowers rose from everywhere. Red daisies, turned into silver roses. Green bells twirled around baby pink eyes. Black and white hollyhocks danced next to blue sunflowers. Flowers which would never bloom on Earth covered the ground of the field. Crystal reached across the ground where she still lied and picked a single green tulip. She sniffed it lightly and smiled. There was a twinkle in her grey eyes which was like magic. Just one look at her, with her best smile and twinkling eyes, and she could probably stop wars with her beauty.

Crystal looked at Hoggle and saw him looking around in awe too. She quickly pushed the stem of the flower into a hole on the strap that went diagonal across his body. It looked odd, him wearing dull clothes, with his bubbly skin, and a green tulip being the only bright thing about him. Standing in a colourful field of beauty. Yet he fit there. In a field of the impossible. Crystal fit too. In a field of magic. Both creatures so different yet they both fit in the same surroundings. Hoggle still hadn't noticed his new accessory.

Crystal suddenly felt a small weight pushing onto her chest. She looked down and saw a tiny fairy standing on her, holding a sword poised to attack.

"Who are you?" She snapped.

"My name is Crystal. This is Hoggle." Crystal replied in the same voice she had with Jack.

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to get to the castle."

"Why?"

"Saving my brother."

"Why should I let you?"

"Because if you don't there will be hell to pay." Crystal replied. Her cheery mood still not dampened even after the snappy questions from a three inches fairy. Neither woman moved. Hoggle counted four minutes of complete stillness before he went into action. He took the fairy zapper out of his bag and sprayed it on the small woman. Who was rather tall for her kind. The fairy dropped her sword and started to cough frantically. She fell to her knees still upon Crystal's chest and wheezed.

With on hand Crystal scooped up the ill fairy and with the other pushed herself into a sitting position.

"Oh, no." Crystal whispered stroking the fairy's long gray hair. Curled up in her hand Crystal got a good look at the creature. Her gray hair reached the bottom of her back, upon her head was a black and white bonnet which went with her black and white dress. She was obviously wearing a Japanese maid outfit. The dress was long sleeved with white pleats at the ends which poked through the black outer material. It had a square neckline with a black ribbon on its chest. The end of the dress reached her kneecaps but puffed out like a tutu. The outer black material was dead straight and two strands that were on the left and right of the front. They had pointed ends and a cross stitched onto it. On her feet were black shoes on top of black stockings.

Her wings were what attracted Crystal the most. They had feathers just like an owls. In colour they were a little darker than the woman's hair but still gray. To touch they were softer than anything you could imagine. In shape they were the same as a dragon pointed and strong. But as the fairy curled in on herself the wings turned down and tugged themselves behind her back. The fairy turned her face up to see Crystal, still coughing frantically. The fairy's brown eyes stared into Crystals sad blue ones. The anger in the fairy's eyes burned into Crystal. The scowl did not leave her face even when dying.

A growl erupted from the other side of the field. Crystal looked up with horrified eyes and saw a small kitten running toward them. Hoggle jumped in front of Crystal and held out his small hands.

"Stop!" He shouted scared.

"What did you do to her?" The kitten cried as she ran. Her voice was soft so much like a child. Crystal was shocked that the kitten could talk.

"Hoggle. How can we save her?" Crystal whispered as the fairy lost colour in its face. The kitten reached Hoggle and pushed him out of the way and sat next to Crystal, her head was almost touching the dying fairy.

"Just blow breath on her." Hoggle replied as if it was conmen knowledge.

"What?" Crystal said in confusion.

"Just blow air on her. It will remove all the dust." Crystal bent down and blew a small breathe over the fairy. A cloud of golden dust rose from the fairy.

Slowly the fairy started to get a small amount of colour to her face. Her beautiful wings opened up and tickled the kitten's nose. Trembling the fairy rose to her feet leaning on crystals curled finger for support. Breathing deeply she looked around herself. The scowl still on her face.

"Thanks." She whispered not looking directly at Crystal. Instead she stumbled toward the small kitten and rubbed its nose.

"Hey Candy. Told you not to follow me here." Her voice broke as she spoke.

Candy the kitten was black with a white line running from between her eyes around her mouth and spread across her chest. She had white paws to match. Her eyes were a greyish blue and she had fluffy ears which stuck up to attention. She was the type of kitten every little girl wants. And she was obviously magic just by the two facts that she was talking and crying. The tears were just like a human's but stuck to her fluffy fur.

"Thank you so much!" She meowed to Crystal.

"I'm Crystal that's Hoggle." Crystal smiled to the kitten. The kitten purred in response.

"I'm Candy. That's Takeesha."

"Yes, and we must be going Candy." Takeesha demanded.

"We don't have to go anywhere today." Candy said cocking her head to the side.

"Would you like to join us going to the castle?" Crystal asked Candy.

"I don't know." She replied looking at Takeesha.

"We must take leave soon." Takeesha replied.

"Please come or at least tell us where to go. I'm so worried about my brother." Crystal whispered the last part almost as if she was begging.

"Come on Takeesha. Id go and save you if King Jareth took you." Candy nudged Takeesha softly.

"King Jareth would never do that to us. He trusts us. Why should we ruin that? And why should I help him? He tried to kill me!" Takeesha thrust her sword in Hoggle's direction.

"Well, I'm going with them! I want to be like the knight in the story you told me!" Candy trotted to Crystal's side and sat down in defiance.

"Fine, I'll come. Only because my sister can't go on her own. God knows what would happen if I didn't. As soon as King Jareth gives the orders to stop, we turn and go home Candy." Takeesha flicked her long grey hair behind her shoulder and jumped off Crystal's hands.

"Yay! Just call me Sir Candy. Helping the brave labyrinth conquer" Candy growled and started to fight an imaginary enemy. She was trying to be Sir Didymus. She thought the story was a lie.

"What way?" Hoggle asked.

"Milady, commands?" Takeesha asked Crystal. Oblivious to Hoggle.

"To the Castle!" Crystal cheered.

"Which way?" Hoggle asked again.

"Alright Milady, follow me." Takeesha did a small bow as Candy trotted up to her after apparently defeating the enemy. Takeesha stood and jumped onto Candy's back sitting around her neck.

"Should be there soon." Candy meowed cheerfully trotting forward.


	4. Chapter three

**Chapter three**

"Why do you call him King Jareth?" Hoggle asked. The group had been walking for a quite awhile in the almost never ending field of beauty. No chat had really been made. Candy had been talking non stop about everything but after a short while everyone blanked her but she didn't take the hint. Takeesha had stayed silent only answering a few questions with short unhelpful answers. Hoggle was being ignored by Takeesha, talked over by Candy, and was getting sympathetic smiles from Crystal. He had stayed silent of course. Crystal had been watching her group of helpers with a small apologetic smile, which no one noticed. She had answered any questions asked of her which wasn't many.

"He is king and we respect him. Like you should, Haggle." Takeesha sneered.

"Hoggle." Crystal sighed.

"But he doesn't usually go's by King Jareth. Goblin King Yer. Jareth sometimes. Not King Jareth. And he aint did nothing for Hoggle." Hoggle replied.

"Has he not let you stay a citizen of the Labyrinth? Has he not let you live? Has he not kept the Labyrinth in order? He has looked after every one of us! You should respect him!" Takeesha screamed once again pointing her sword at Hoggle.

"Enough! This is ridiculous! Save it for another time!" Crystal shouted, the first time in the labyrinth she had been angry. And she was scary! Her grey eyes promised pain to those who disobeyed.

"Sorry." Hoggle and Takeesha mumbled afraid for their lives. As soon as it had come the anger left Crystals face being replaced by her award winning smile.

"Good. Now tell me. What story is Candy repeating over and over again?" Crystal lifted one eyebrow while staring at Candy pretending to call the rocks.

"The story of The Conqueror." Takeesha stated.

"Can you tell me it sounds interesting?" Crystal smiled.

So the story was retold. Hoggle didn't listen. He didn't want to hear about it again. The tale of the conqueror along with her three friends the knight, the beast and the dwarf. Of the Conqueror who against all odds won and left the labyrinth behind. Of a girl who the king had fallen in love with. Of the girl who left him for the mortal realm. Of the heartbreak of the King, none of it was as great as the real adventure. But the ending was always missed. The part where she stopped calling. Instead she called all the time and the group went on many adventures together. Crystal listened to every detail hanging onto every word. As if the world depended on it.

By the end of the conqueror story they had reached a waterfall. This waterfall was as different as the rest of the field. The water flowed every colour you could imagine and some you couldn't. But the water didn't flow down. It rose up. The rocks the water flowed up were smooth and had no way of climbing.

"How do we get's past?" Hoggle asked.

"Walk through it and we will be in the castle." Takeesha whispered climbing off Candy's shoulders.

"There's rock behind this! We's can see it!" Hoggle stropped.

"For someone who lives in a magic realm you sure are dumb." Takeesha sighed.

"Are you sure we will end up in the castle?" Crystal asked the small fairy.

"That's the difficult bit. There are nine other portals like this one. Only some one as powerful as Jareth can use it correctly." Takeesha replied looking up at the tall woman before her.

"We will get there. Now, how do we use it?" Crystal replied reaching out to touch the water.

"All of us have to be touching and then the leader has to think what portal they want to be at."

"Well, since you know how to do it you will have to think of the place."

"I can't, neither can these two. Any one who is a member of the Labyrinth cannot pass through without being noticed. You have to."

"But I don't know where I'm going!" Crystal panicked.

"Just think of the castle." Takeesha replied. Licking her lip, Crystal grabbed Hoggle's hand tightly. Hoggle touched Candy's head with the tip of one finger with a grimace. Takeesha placed her hand on Candy's leg and the four stepped through the water.

Hoggle's ears had popped, Takeesha was dizzy, Candy was seeing triple everything, and Crystal was throwing up. After several minutes of everyone regaining their senses they looked around. In front where a waterfall once stood was a long hall which the magic creatures knew was the hall to the throne room. Behind them where the field once laid was a shining suit of armour.

"Well, you're a first timer." Candy purred rubbing against Crystal's leg in confidence.

"Ya think?" Crystal smiled rubbing between the kittens ears. She took a few tentative steps forward toward the big wooden doors at the end of the hall.

CRASH! Crystal jumped and stood still.

"What was that?" She asked her companions.

"Is' majesty." Hoggle grumbled.

"What?" Crystal whisper yelled.

"He likes to smash crystals as a way to vent anger." Takeesha whispered back. Suddenly the group could hear two voices. Both very familiar to Hoggle.

"Oh no. Bad timing." Hoggle grumbled to himself.

"Look what I'm offering you- Your dreams."

"And kingdom as great"

"I ask for so little. Just let me rule you, and you can have everything that you want" "Kingdom as great… Damn! I can never remember that line."

"Just fear me, love me, Do as I say and I will be you're slave"

"Oh no." Hoggle whispered louder staring wide eyed at the big door.

"My kingdom is great. My kingdom is great… You have no power over me." The repeat of Sarah's words shocked the group of four. Including Hoggle.

"It's true." Takeesha whispered.

"Wow." Candy answered.

"Crap." Hoggle moaned.

"Jareth!" Crystal screamed and ran toward the door. The door swung open and there stood the high king. Shocked as hell. As his younger sister flew into him.

"Crystal?" Jareth said confused hugging her tightly.


End file.
